Scars
by Cardgamesonmotorcycles
Summary: You could almost play dot-to-dot with the marks on their skin


**Prompt fill for AO3 user 'Infestation', who requested- 'MizuSei or MizuSly, scars on pale skin vs scars on dark skin. Alternately, Sei's medical/torture scars compared to Mizuki's Rib scars.'**

* * *

"Hmm... this one?" Pale fingers trailed over tanned skin, eventually pausing atop a thick scar on the mans chest.  
"Ah, now that was a good choice."  
"Not just another bar fight?" Dark eyes asked inquisitively.  
A burgundy haired head shook, eyes gleaming teasingly. "Nothing so mundane."  
Sei laughed at this, pink lips turning up and white teeth glinting in the dull light. "Only you would call a bar fight mundane, Mizu."  
"Well you would too, if you'd been in as many as I have."  
"I suppose," Sei conceded, noticing the scar was pinker towards the middle, the ends fading into a pale beige that stood out on the caramel skin. "Tell me about this one."  
"Well," Mizuki began, wondering what kind of story he should fabricate to amaze Sei before revealing he'd just fallen down some stone stairs and landed on razor wire. "What happened was, I was on my way home from seeing one of my Rib Guys, when suddenly-"  
Here he jolted Sei for effect, making the smaller boy squeak in surprise, unimpressed eyes meeting Mizuki's which were dramatic and wide.  
"Ninjas! Jumping from rooftop to rooftop!" Sei was rolling his eyes by now, one eyebrow raised in disbelief but still listening with an amused smile. "They surrounded me in seconds, there must have been at least twenty of them. Head to toe in black and armed with katanas and shuriken stars, bandanas over their faces so only their eyes could be seen, black and filled with evil intent."  
"Do continue." Sei urged, not believing a word of it but enjoying it all the same, Mizuki had a surprisingly good imagination and could weave the best stories.  
"There was no escape, they were everywhere and I was unarmed. I thought the end had come."  
"So what did you do?" Sei was enthralled, imagining the bartenders eyes narrowing as he prepared to fight to the death with these evil mercenaries.  
"I did what anyone would do," Mizuki shrugged, acting deliberately nonchalant, as if he was about to say something really cool. "I ran away."  
Sei's face fell, bottom lip sticking out in an unimpressed pout. "Oh."  
"One of their shuriken caught me as I vaulted a fence, but I just kept on running."  
"Mizuu!" Sei whined, unimpressed at the unsatisfactory ending to the story. "You were meant to say something cooler than that! You didn't sound very brave."  
Mizuki looked mock taken aback, absently drawing circles on Sei's arm, which lay across his chest. "You didn't believe me anyway!"  
"Of course I didn't! But you could have made the story more interesting if you'd fought them off or something."  
"Story?!" Mizuki looked affronted, "Everything I said was the truth, but don't you worry, next time they strike I'll fight them off, if it'll make you happy Princess."  
Sei rolled his eyes, sending Mizuki a half hearted glare as he ruffled the black boys hair, messing it up. "What really happened then?"  
The bartender was half tempted to continue his 'I was attacked by ninjas' story, but the look in Sei's eyes told him it probably wasn't the best idea. He laughed in embarrassment, rubbing the back of his neck, "I fell onto some razor wire."  
"Hm," Sei regarded this quietly for a moment before adjusting his position so he lay atop of Mizuki, head cradled in his arms on the tanned chest. "Maybe the Ninjas put it there?"  
Mizuki laughed at this, "maybe. They're very crafty those Ninjas."  
Sei's new, extremely comfortable position gave him the perfect view of Mizuki's broad chest, littered with scars, most of which had already been explained to the nosy ravenette. There was just one left to ask about, the darkest, deepest and longest. It tore down his side, a couple of centimetres thick and running from his armpit all the way down to his navel. Sei ran his fingers over it wonderingly, surprised as Mizuki jerked away from his touch, muttering his that hands were cold, which Sei knew wasn't true.  
"What about this one?" He could tell Mizuki was reluctant to talk about it, but wanted to know.  
"Just another bar fight." He replied quickly, too quickly, eyes avoiding Sei's searching orbs.  
"Just another bar fight?" Sei echoed disbelievingly. "It looks like they tried to kill you."  
"A particularly bad bar fight." Mizuki corrected, still being deliberately evasive, glancing to the clock beside the bed. "It's getting late."  
"It's barely eleven." Sei remarked, now intensely curious to know what the bartender was hiding. "Was it someone you knew?"  
Olive eyes flashed up at this, and Sei grinned, knowing he was right. "So it was someone you knew."  
"Someone I know." Mizuki remarked, playing with a split fingernail absently, running the pad of his thumb over it again and again. "One of my Rib guys. Hey, you thirsty?"  
Again with the abrupt and less than subtle conversation change, Sei's eyes narrowing as he knew Mizuki was lying.  
"I can tell when you're lying." He shifted position again, raising himself up to straddle Mizuki's stomach and sitting on him, knowing he didn't weigh enough for it to hurt the bartender. "Why don't you just tell me?"  
"You don't tell me about yours when I ask." Mizuki objected, realising that had been harsh as Sei looked away, drawing his arms into his sides and suddenly looking uncomfortable in his topless state.  
"That's different." He whispered softly, the fact Mizuki knew that and had still used them against him was painful. His scars weren't the result of carelessness or a reckless lifestyle, they hadn't even been deliberate. No, his were reminders of his past locked away in Oval Tower, a prisoner of Toue, never allowed out, never seeing the sun. Trapped in a white room with no windows, full of stupid plush animals that offered no comfort and a medical bed with wheels. He could name the procedure behind each mark easily, the darker ones from the more.. invasive surgeries, lighter, more faded marks from needles and blood tests and endless routine procedures. He could remember the pain that had come with each one, the fear that had dulled to a low ebb as he became more and more numb, more used to being poked and prodded and sliced by the faceless doctors and surgeons. Remember the special presents from Virus and Trip after each procedure, remember days unable to get out of bed, skin throbbing and stabbing. He could remember the procedures on his eyes the most, he had to be awake for those, had to watch as needles and blades sliced into the skin around them, unable to blink or shut his eyes, unable even to scream.  
A hand rested on his hip and he jerked back to the now, eyes wide and nails digging into his thighs where he gripped them painfully tight, leaving red crescent marks when he drew them away.  
"Sorry babe, that was harsh." Mizuki sighed, rubbing his forehead with his free hand. Some memories were too painful to bring up, for both of them. It was why he didn't push Sei about his scars and why the pale boy hadn't asked him to unwrap the bandages round his neck. They both had things they were ashamed of, and wanted to keep away from prying eyes, fearful about the consequences even from those they loved.  
"No you're right." Sei shook his head softly, "I shouldn't pry. I'm sorry."  
Mizuki sighed, whenever the topic of either of their pasts with Morphine and the Yakuza duo got brought up things always got painful and awkward for the both of them, silence usually falling soon after. "Come here." He sighed, encouraging Sei to climb off him and snuggle into his side instead, head fitting perfectly under his own as he pulled the covers over them. They lay there together in painful silence, lost in painful memories of Toue and the Yakuza duo.  
"Sly." Mizuki remarked quietly, shattering the quiet atmosphere and prompting Sei to turn to look at him with confused eyes.  
"What?"  
"The scar, it was Sly." Mizuki clarified, waiting nervously for Sei's reaction.  
Sei just stared at him, coming to terms with what Mizuki had said. It was Sly. "Aoba did that?"  
Mizuki shook his head, "no, not Aoba. He's a completely different person. It was Sly, it was Aoba's body technically, I guess, but it was definitely Sly. I don't even think Aoba remembers it happening."  
"Well... why? I thought you two were.. friends or whatever." Sei wasn't entirely sure how to name what Mizuki and Sly had been, the bartender had once admitted they were essentially fuck buddies, but Sei didn't particularly like thinking about that, let alone saying it.  
"We were, sort of." Mizuki sighed, staring blankly at the bedroom ceiling to avoid having to look at Sei, who had gone stiff at his side. "I thought we were exclusive, found out we weren't in the worst way possible."  
Sei didn't need more detail to understand, Mizuki had thought he had Sly had some kind of relationship, an unhealthy one, but a monogamous relationship all the same. Had seen him with someone else and realised he was being used, it made Sei angry and sad at the same time and he wrapped an arm round Mizuki's chest.  
"He thought it was funny, that I'd though that. I was fucking stupid, I knew he wasn't the relationship type. I was just lying to myself. But.. when it turned out I was just a regular.."  
Mizuki's hands had balled into fists and his eyes were stony, jaw set hard as he spat his words.  
"Well, lets just say I wasn't too happy and neither was he."  
"What happened?" Sei whispered, not wanting to talk too loud and scare Mizuki into silence. He could read the pain on his boyfriends face and figured it was best to stay quiet and let him say what he needed to.  
"We got into a fight, he drew a knife." Mizuki sighed deeply and shrugged, laughing darkly. "He fought dirty, got the upper hand."  
He remembered being trapped in a corner, angry yellow eyes and blood splashed blue hair filling his vision as the blade flashed.  
"Aimed for my neck, missed pretty badly. Left me there. Tio found me a couple of hours later."  
"Then what?"  
"Went to the hospital, got fixed up and discharged myself." Mizuki remembered the consulting doctor looking shocked as he walked out of the building, side neatly stitched and bandaged, broken ribs making every breath agony. "Worked a six hour shift with two broken ribs and a broken ankle."  
"Why didn't he kill you?" Sei asked, "I mean I'm glad he didn't, but why?"  
Mizuki smiled at him at this, planting a kiss on the pale forehead "I like to think he felt bad about what he'd done, but.." He paused, focusing his eyes on his and Sei's fingers weaving together on his stomach. "I think he wanted me to live with it. He always was a sadistic bastard."  
"I'm glad he's not here anymore."  
"Yeah, me too." Mizuki replied, smelling the fresh scent of green apple from Sei's soft hair with a fond smile. "Because now I've got you."  
Sei blushed at this, turning to hide his head in Mizuki's neck, warm breath playing across the areas of unbandaged skin. "Mizu! That's embarrassing!" He whined, Mizuki's ability to say things like that still a cause of bouts of shyness on the ravenettes part.  
"What? I'm not allowed to say I love my boyfriend?" Mizuki joked, knowing Sei's face would be beetroot red by now.  
"Me and my 47 needle scars." Sei announced.  
"You counted?" Mizuki was surprised, he hadn't heard Sei talk about the round marks littering his arms and the back of his hands before, let alone known he paid that much attention to them.  
"Mm-hm." He nodded, "they used to take blood three times a day, every day. This one, right here."  
Sei lifted his hand so Mizuki could see a particularly dark round scar on his inner wrist.  
"This is where they took it the most. I pulled the needle out once." Mizuki's eyebrows lowered, hugging Sei closer as he listened, face serious. "Got blood everywhere. All over myself, nearly died. Or that's what I think they said. They weren't very happy with me."  
"I'd imagine." Mizuki muttered, wondering just how it was both of them had near death experiences in their pasts. "Did you do it on purpose?"  
Sei paused, then sighed and nodded, "I think I was only about.. twelve, I was still.. conscious then, I thought I could end it." Mizuki knew what Sei meant by conscious, he had shut himself off from the world around him, ignoring it all and becoming numb, like a doll that stared blankly and unfeelingly. He had done something similar himself after being re-tattooed and realising what Morphine truly was.  
"I'm glad it didn't." Mizuki whispered, echoing Sei's earlier words, though part of him wondered how much pain Sei would have been spared if his attempt had been successful.  
"I wouldn't have met you if it had."  
"Now who's being embarrassing?" Mizuki joked, leaning down for a quick kiss, yawning loudly just after and nuzzling into Sei's shoulder, lips brushing faded white scars that crisscrossed the skin.  
"Tired already?" Sei asked, squirming as hot breath tickled his ear.  
Mizuki was already half asleep, comfortable in the warmth and safety of Sei's presence, "shhh, I'm sleeping." He muttered, Sei rolling his eyes and moving to get comfortable in the bed, smiling as Mizuki's arms immediately wrapped round him again, pulling him into a firm chest.  
"Night Mizu." He whispered. "I love you too."  
"Night babe." The voice muttered back, fingers drawing what felt like a heart on his hip bone, though it could have been anything really, Sei liked to think it was a heart.  
Sei didn't care how scarred Mizuki was, or where they had come from, they were beautiful to Sei, shining like acorns on his tanned skin. The stories behind them didn't matter, they made Mizuki who he was, as his did for him. The pain and sadness behind them faded into insignificance, the past was over, scars would fade and memories would remain just that, memories. Sei loved Mizuki's battle scarred skin, it showed how strong he was and how much he had struggled through. And though Sei didn't know it, Mizuki loved his scars just as much, they made him smile when he saw them on someone so animated. He knew they hadn't ruined him one bit, they showed how brave he was and how much pain he had been through.  
The fact both of them were so happy, and so happy together made Mizuki smile. Dark scars overlapping light as their bodies shifted together in sleep, they weren't perfect, but they wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
